


#ComingOut

by alycat



Category: Captain America (Movies) RPF, Marvel Cinematic Universe RPF
Genre: Age Difference, Alternate Universe, Chris Evans is Cap, College, M/M, Sebastian is not famous
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-10-26
Updated: 2017-02-23
Packaged: 2018-08-27 04:36:24
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,510
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8387428
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alycat/pseuds/alycat
Summary: When Sebastian Stan comes out on Twitter, thanking Marvel and Chris Evans for making him realize he is gay, he has no idea what will follow. Between his tweet going viral, interviews, actually meeting Chris Evans and college, Sebastian finds his life turned upside down. It isn't always a bad thing.





	1. Thank you Marvel

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by a post on Reddit

Captain America did not turn Sebastian Stan gay.

 

In fact, it was Chris Hemsworth and his portrayal of Thor that made Sebastian Stan start to think he might be into guys. But then came Captain America and Sebastian knew for sure. No doubts. None.

 

Because really?

 

Chris Evans’ ass in sweatpants was better than any porn Sebastian had ever seen, and since he had just turned twenty, he had seen a lot of porn. For all the pretty actors in porn, there was none like Chris Evans, though, and that was why Sebastian was sitting staring at his Twitter at almost 2 AM, wondering why no one was around to entertain him. He sipped his wine and for a moment he wondered if opening a second bottle had really been a good idea, but the following day was a bank holiday and Sebastian thought that was a valid excuse. No classes meant that wine was clearly needed. Besides, it had been a long few weeks of school, too many group assignments and too much homework. Sebastian needed a night in front of his computer.

 

Some people on Twitter were still around, but it was clear that Sebastian wasn't the only one indulging himself. Drunk people could be fun to be around, but people were clearly going too far. When yet another message popped up that Sebastian was sure he'd need to learn decryption to read, he decided to swap from Twitter to YouTube. Taking another sip of red wine, Sebastian checked for new recommended videos and he grinned wide when he saw that there was a new video with Chris Evans. It was a commercial that made Sebastian's breath catch in his throat as Chris smiled into the camera. It might be a commercial for Chivas Regal, but Sebastian felt a shiver run down his spine when Chris looked into the camera and talked about "we".

 

It was far from the first time that Sebastian had been intensely impressed by Chris Evans, and he started going through all the videos he had saved, watching Chris doing interviews with his brother and there was something with the obviously close friendship there that made Sebastian question why he hadn't come out to more people than his closest family. Chris was clearly supportive of his brother, and if an actor like Scott could be publically out, then so could Sebastian Stan. All his friends should know who he was, after all.

 

"I should do it," Sebastian mumbled to himself, taking another sip of wine. "And I should thank Chris for making me accept myself. I should."

 

Sebastian had the best plans after a few glasses of wine and he started writing what would clearly be an amazing coming out post to his friends.

 

-¤-

 

An insistent vibration woke Sebastian up and he fumbled for his phone, wondering who kept sending him messages that made the silenced phone vibrate around beside his pillow. He glared at it, reaching out to unplug it from where it had been charging and at first he thought he would just turn it to mute, but then he actually looked at the screen and suddenly he went from half asleep to wide awake.

 

He had 743 new notifications from Twitter and his phone kept vibrating in his hand. Sebastian sat up in bed, sheet pooling around his waist as he quickly unlocked the phone and was reminded of just what he had tweeted the night before.

 

  

"Holy fuck," Sebastian whispered even as his phone kept on vibrating, the number of likes and retweets climbing higher and higher and Sebastian realized it must be because more people were coming awake.

 

His plan to sleep away half the day was gone, and even the lingering hangover couldn't compare to the pure panic rushing through him when he read his own post over and over again. There were also a few private messages from his followers but Sebastian didn't even have time to think of those, not when more and more messages kept coming through. Dropping the phone down on the bed, Sebastian stumbled to his feet and into the bathroom, staring at his own wide eyed face in the mirror and trying to get his heart to beat slower.

 

What on earth had he been thinking?


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry about the long time inbetween updates, real life got a bit insane but I'm now back on track. All my love to [Fiercelynormal](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fiercelynormal) for her beta work.

Sebastian had thought that getting away from his little apartment would be a good thing, something that would allow him to focus on anything that wasn't the phone burning a hole in his pocket and his Twitter notifications piling up. And there was basically no one from his school life that followed him on Twitter, something he was grateful for. At campus he was just one person in a sea of thousands, or at least that had been the case.

It wasn't until he got to the first lecture that he noticed people looking at him oddly, people he had never really spoken to in the past months. The only people he really spoke to were the ones sitting in his section, or those attending the smaller classes. Suddenly it seemed that many more noticed, eyes following him as he made his way towards his seat. He wasn't sure how people found out, but there could be no other reason for the way people turned to look at him or the not so subtle way people murmured to each other when he walked past. Putting his back down he slid down beside the girl - Dianna - he always sat by and she looked up from her tablet, wincing slightly and angling it so that he could see the screen. He saw his own tweet taking up the screen, and retweets and likes were even higher than he had been expecting.

 

"Well fuck," Sebastian breathed, hiding his face in his hands and groaning to himself.

"Someone apparently saw it and you know, recognized you," Dianna said. "And now it's sorta everywhere."

"Should've seen that coming," Sebastian said quietly, looking over at her tablet once more.

"Just thought you should know," she said.

She closed her Twitter down and Sebastian nodded, even as he felt like throwing up. Neither of them had time to say anything more before the lecturer called them all to attention. Not that he listened much, his focus instead on his own Twitter account that he was checking for the first time in days, and more than anything he checked for new followers. It was obvious that he had gotten a slew of new followers and he gave up any chance of figuring out who had recognized him. It didn't matter anyway, his fuckup had gone from simply being online to influencing his real life as well.

-¤-

The following day was just as bad, maybe even worse, but that was something that Sebastian wasn't prepared to think about. He was decidedly _not_ thinking about several things and he was absolutely not dealing with things. Maybe some celebrity or other would sleep with someone they shouldn't and then everyone would forget about Sebastian and his stupid tweet. If he thought deleting the tweet would've helped, he'd done so right away but he knew all too well that once something was online, it was there forever. Tweeting both Marvel and Chris Evans had not been his brightest move, but at least he was prepared to own up to his own stupidity.

"Mr. Stan," the teacher said, pulling Sebastian away from the thoughts swirling in his mind. "Could you explain the DuPont model and what it is used for?"

Sebastian knew he had been called upon because the teacher didn't believe he had been listening, and in all honesty the lesson wasn't the thing he had focused on completely. That didn't mean that he didn't know what he was talking about and he pushed the thoughts aside and focused on his answer.

"The DuPont model is used as a method to break down return on equity and-"

He went into details and to for the first time since waking up to his own messed up Twitter post, he found himself able to fully focus on something else.

 -¤-

 "Sebastian, is this really the best way to deal with things?"

Sebastian didn't look up from the book he was reading, not caring that Ryan had walked in without knocking and was sitting down on the couch. He thought he could feel his friend's eyes on him, but he tried to keep his focus on the text in front of him.

"I'm not dealing with anything," Sebastian said, using his marker to highlight a few sentences.

"Well, that's fucking obvious," Ryan said in a tone that made Sebastian look up. "I'm sorry. But really, you drunkenly came out on Twitter and now you're acting like it never happened?"

"Those who matter already knew," Sebastian said, although that wasn't the full truth.

It was mostly true, his family and closest friends had known for year, but being out to the world was different. At least he could be happy that he didn't live in Texas or some little backwards town in the middle of nowhere. San Diego was better than most. But Sebastian wished he'd been able to come out fully on his own terms, and not as a drunken mistake.

"Maybe so," Ryan shrugged. "But that doesn't mean this is how things should go. But you'll deal, you always do."

It wasn't often that Ryan was serious, and it made Sebastian go still for a moment and truly look at his friend. For all the jokes and teasing, there was a reason that Ryan was Sebastian's best friend. Instead of saying more, turning things sappier than either of them wanted, Ryan grinned, picking up his tablet from where he had thrown his messenger bag down beside the couch. Sebastian wasn't sure he wanted to know what Ryan was looking for, but there was no doubt he'd find out either way. He groaned when he saw Ryan open Twitter, and even though it was only four in the afternoon, Sebastian decided that they probably needed some beer. Or at least he would. He got up, padded on bare feet towards his cramped little kitchen. In true bachelor fashion there wasn't much in the small fridge, butt he always made sure he had some alcohol at home so he pulled out two Coronas, not taking time to bother with lime. He returned to the couch just in time for Ryan to hold up his tablet with one tweet open.

 

 "Oh dear god," Sebastian said at the same time as Ryan cracked up, almost dropping the tablet before Sebastian managed to catch it.

"Seb, this is fucking hilarious," Ryan managed to get out between laughter. "Aren't you gonna take him up on this?

"How about no?" Sebastian said. "That username scares me. That's terrifying. And...oddly flattering."

For some reason, he found himself relaxing fully for the first time since he had woken up to his phone vibrating beside him, and it wasn't only because of the beer he was gulping down. He hadn't really looked at all the likes and retweets, much less the actual responses to his tweet, instead pretending like the tweet itself was as bad as it got. With Ryan there, however, it wasn't as bad and with beers in hand they sat together on the couch, slowly scrolling through all the responses, laughing at some and cringing at others.

"How about this one," Ryan said. "I like this one _'Who isn't #GayForCap?'_ "

"True words," Sebastian agreed, going to the kitchen to fetch them more beer, happy that Ryan also tended to bring beer or they would have run out soon. "But honestly, I'm looking forward to a time when I can turn my Twitter notifications back on."

He sat down and took a few deep gulps of beer before he realized that his friend was unusually silent, and if there was something that Ryan wasn't good at, it was being quiet.

"Ry?" Sebastian asked, trying to keep the worry out of his voice.

Ryan simply stared at his tablet, mouth open and Sebastian frowned, not sure he actually wanted to know what had stunned his friend. He drained his bottle in a few deep swallows and instead of handing Ryan the second one he decided to keep it to himself as he moved in closer and took the tablet from his friend. He almost dropped it when he saw the tweet that Ryan had opened.

 

 "This can't be real," Sebastian said weakly. "I mean...just...no. This can't be happening. Did they just.. Fuck. Fuck, fucking hell."

"Eloquent," Ryan said but there was nothing of his usual banter and wit in his voice. "Damn, Seb. This will…"

Neither of them said any more, instead they say down side by side and while Ryan kept track of Marvel's Twitter feed while Sebastian opened his own for the first time in days. The trickle of retweets and likes had dwindled down, but with Marvel responding his notifications were exploding once more. It was nothing compared to the first time and Sebastian stared as more and more notifications kept streaming in. It was one thing to tag Marvel and Chris Evans himself in a tweet, even more so when drunk, but having the focus of Marvel on him? That was something Sebastian was not prepared for in any way.

"Well, at least people are supportive?" Sebastian said weakly, scrolling through his mentions. "Listen to this _'This is why we need to #GetCapaBoyfriend #thanksMarvel'_. I mean… did I inspire this? How did this happen? Seriously, Ry, how is this my life?"

Ryan didn't respond at Sebastian who was sure that it was the first time his friend had been rendered speechless. On the other hand, there wasn't much to be said that Twitter wasn't already saying for them.

-¤-  
-¤-

"Who the hell thought this was a good idea? They should at least have asked before pulling a stunt like this. What the _fuck_ were they thinking?"

Chris stared at his manager, one eyebrow raised and waiting for Brian to realize what he was saying but that didn't seem to be about to happen. Instead Brian kept on talking, walking back and forth across the office while Chris sat in his chair, slowly nursing his glass of sparkling water.

"I'll get them to take it down, Chris. Issue an apology and explain it had nothing to do with you."

He should've seen it before, should have realized the way that Brian would react and in all honesty, he wasn't surprised. Disappointed yes, but not surprised.

"That would probably be weird," Chris said calmly as he put the glass of water down on the table. "Considering that I'm the one that asked them to post a response."

"What? Chris, this will mean the end for your career, how could you do this without talking to me? We can't have you connected to a little fag and-"

"You're fired," Chris interrupted calmly, causing Brian to go stock still and stare at him, mouth open and eyes wide.

Chris stood up then, using his bulk and height to intimidate in a way he never did, but he was wondering why he had ever let a man like Brian be in control of the way he presented himself to the public. The only excuse he had was that he had been young when he chosen his publicist, not knowing fully what a life in the spotlight would be like. It was clear that his mistake was one that needed to be rectified.

"Everyone knows that my brother is gay," Chris said cooly. "So I'm pretty sure I'm already 'connected', and I'm bisexual so really, you think you can spew your vile language around me? Like I said, you're fired."

Brian had gone pale and while he opened his mouth, no words came out. Chris nodded, grabbing his leather jacket and walking towards the door. It wasn't until Chris' hand was already on the handle that Brian spoke up again.

"This is not the last you'll hear about this," Brian said and when Chris looked back over his shoulder to where his publicist was looking at him, hands clenched into fists.

"No," Chris admitted. “Probably not. But you'll never speak for me again, and that's worth it."

-¤-

Firing his publicist in the middle of promoting Captain America: The Winter Soldier might not have been the smartest choice he'd ever made, but Chris didn't really care. It had been the right call and despite the problems it had been worth it.

"You look a bit stressed out," Jeremy said as he sat down beside Chris, the two of them waiting for the presenter to call them out on stage for the next panel.

"Well, you know, I hate this promotional stuff," Chris said with a sigh, running a hand through his hair. "And it doesn't help that I fired my publicist the other day."

Jeremy looked over at him, quiet for a long minute before he nodded slowly.

"I guess this has something to do with that tweet that has been gaining more and more attention?"

"Brian was an ass," Chris explained. "And a moron. Being a homophobic asshole in front of _me_? He knows about Scott, after all. Everyone does."

Everyone did know about Scott, and Chris had spoken about his little brother in interviews more than once, they had even done interviews together at times and of all his family, his brother was probably the one he was closest to. After all, Scott was the only one that really knew what an actor's life could be like.

"Fuck," Jeremy said slowly. "What a dick. Found a new one? You kinda need a publicist. Want the number of mine?"

Before Chris could do more than nod, they were called on stage and Chris took a few calming breaths before he put in a big smile and went to join the rest of the cast on stage. There were flashes going off in his face and it wasn't easy to keep the smile in place. Luckily, once the questions started coming, things were easier, even though Chris knew that there was one question that was bound to come up sooner or later.

"Hi," a soft voice was heard when a microphone was handed to a strawberry blonde girl. "I'm Anna, and I have a question for Chris."

Like so many of the fans that took the microphone, she looked a mixture of terrified and excited, and Chris smiled at her, leaning forward slightly.

"Hi, Anna," he said, giving her a small wave.

"I was wondering," she started, clearly hesitating, "I think we all know about the tweet, the one from Blueberry Basha that Marvel responded to. Any thoughts on it?"

That was the question that he had been expecting, the question he knew would come when he and Marvel decided to respond to the tweet. It was what he had managed to dodge for days but there was no way he could get out of it. Beside him he heard Scarlett mumble, lips barely moving.

"Go on."

Chris took a deep breath, calming himself down before nodding and leaning back in his chair.

"I have several thoughts," he started, meeting Anna's wide eyed gaze head on, because it was easier to talking to her than to think about all the cameras aimed at him. "First of, I want to say that I approved of Marvel responding to that tweet."

A low murmur filled the hall and Chris waited until the hush fell once more before he continued speaking.

"I'm sure you're aware that my brother is gay, and that I've always been a supporter of equality, but more than that I'm proud of my brother for being open about who he is in a line of work where that can hurt your career. And if he can do it, so can I."

The room exploded into sound and flashes going off so much that Chris had to shield his eyes and call out for silence several times before it quieted enough for him to make himself heard. There was no doubt that every word he said would end up on YouTube and considering the cameras aimed at him he wouldn't be surprised if it was already being livestreamed.

"What I'm trying to say is that I'm bisexual. I have been meaning to admit this for some time, but when BlueberryBasha tweeted me, I felt that it was the best way to come out. Both he and my brother are people to admire, and one day I hope to be able to tell this mystery Basha how much it means to me that he tweeted me."


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm terribly sorry for the long wait, apparently I'm a slow writer while doing my internship.

There were a lot of things that Sebastian Stan expected to never be a part of his life. Being oddly famous because of one drunken tweet was on that list of things, but nowhere as high as having Chris fucking Evans saying he hoped to meet Sebastian. What Sebastian had thought to be a storm quickly multiplied into a hurricane of tweets and retweets and people tagging both him and Chris in messages. Some of them the kind of things that made Sebastian's cheeks heat up and ended with him quickly looking away from Twitter again.

Ryan, of course, found everything highly amusing and spent far too much time sifting through all the messages to make sure that Sebastian didn't miss the really embarrassing ones. If there was one thing that Sebastian had gotten used to after becoming friends with Ryan Reynolds, it was a teasing kind of love. 

"At least you don't get too many private messages," Ryan had said the night before, when Sebastian had cleaned out another set of notifications.

"True," Sebastian had agreed. "Good thing only people I follow can send me private messages."

Just as he thought of that conversation, both phone and computer dinged with new notifications and Sebastian looked up from the book he had been reading. The moment he saw the message, however, he got up and walked to the desk where his computer was waiting. Sitting down in his comfortable chair, he opened his Twitter direct messages and stared at the one he had received from one of the fan convention sites he followed. 

He read the message over and over again, even closing it down and opening it a few times to make sure it was still there, and only then did he reach for his phone to call Ryan. It took several tones before a grumbled voice answered.

"Fuck off."

Seb looked at the clock and winced, of course Ryan would be pissed that Sebastian called him at nine in the morning on a day that Sebastian knew his friend had no classes. 

"Shit, sorry, "Seb said, but he didn't hang up.

A few curses later and he was sure that Ryan was more awake, and he knew his friend well enough that Ryan would forgive him for the early call. It just might take a beer or two to be forgiven.

"Ok. I hate you, but go on," Ryan said around a yawn. "This better be good."

"I got a message from Wizard World, they want to invite me to a convention. In like, a week."

"Holy fuck," Ryan breathed out, suddenly much more awake. "Is… Did… Is Chris Evans involved in it somehow?"

"I have no idea," Sebastian sighed. "But I mean, he doesn't know me, right? I could at least, answer and see what they say? They left me a phone number. You know I've wanted to go to a con for so long but…"

He could hear sounds that told him Ryan was getting up, mostly likely on the hunt for coffee and he himself got up and padded to his small kitchen.

"I'm getting dressed," Ryan said. "And coming over. You better have coffee ready."

The next moment the call disconnected and Sebastian stared down at the phone. It was the first time ever that he knew of Ryan leaving bed before noon on a day off. He prepared the coffee brewer but he didn't turn it on, knowing it would be at least be thirty minutes before Ryan would be there. Rather than thinking too much, he focused on taking out some stuff for toast, putting the toaster on the table and only turning on the coffee brewer when he figured that Ryan had to be close by. Once the doorbell rang, he went to let Ryan in. 

"No coffee?" Ryan complained, close to a whine, when he saw Sebastian.

"It's just finishing brewing," Sebastian said as the two made their way to the kitchen.

"You know it'll keep warm for awhile, right? Oh, toast, nice!"

It wasn't the first time they'd had the same discussion and Sebastian ignored Ryan's eyeroll when Sebastian poured a liberal amount of milk in his own coffee before sitting down across from Ryan at his tiny kitchen table.

"Should I call?" he asked. 

"What you should do, is show me the message," Ryan said, holding out one hand towards Sebastian while he plopped bread into the toaster with the other. 

Sebastian handed over his phone, message already opened and he sipped at his coffee while Ryan read through it. Considering the time it took he assumed that Ryan did the same thing that he had done, reading it a few times to take in it all. 

"Well, considering they offer tickets to you and a friend-"

"Oh, shut up," Sebastian said be he found himself laughing. "Focus, Ryan. Seriously, I mean, I'd get to see him which, you know, would be fucking awesome."

"Seb," Ryan said, "you've been saving for a con for ages. And it's not like they will drag you up on stage. They even say they'll grant you a VIP ticket. Or well, us, I guess."

 

Despite still being tense, Sebastian found himself laughing and shaking his head, taking a deep swallow of his coffee and with Ryan there, things felt better.

"So you assume I'd be taking you?" Sebastian asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Of course you will," Ryan said with shrug. "I'm awesome. Besides, you wanna fill someone else in on your crush?"

"Really?" Sebastian asked. "You do know my tweet went viral, right? Everyone knows about my crush. But yes. I'm fucking bringing you. I'm calling them. Yeah, I'm… Let's do this!"

The toast popped out with a pling, like it was saluting Sebastian's decision.

-¤-

"This wasn't really what I had in mind when I agreed to come along," Ryan said with a heavy, dramatic sigh. 

Sebastian let out a low huff, ignoring his friend and walking over to the next vendor. The big room was interesting, and usually Sebastian would have loved being able to walk around and take in amazing crafts and gush with his friend over the obvious talent. Instead he was looking at his phone time and time again, the panel drawing closer by the second.

"I'm not sure we have the same definition of the word 'agreed'," Sebastian said.

"Eh," Ryan said, wrapping an arm around Sebastian's shoulder. "You know you want me here. And you know I wouldn't let you do this alone."

The last words were said with a serious tone that Ryan didn't use very often, but in that moment it was really what Sebastian needed. 

"Do you think I need swords?" Ryan asked, dragging Sebastian towards a vendor with a beautiful collection of shiny weapons. "I think I need swords. Two of them."

Sebastian followed his friend, listening to Ryan talk about all the cool things he could do with swords and he was sure that he would need to talk his friend out of getting weapons. But it was a good thing to listen to, and Ryan didn't really need Sebastian to answer, instead accepting that he was talking at Sebastian instead of with him. In the hour that remained until the Captain America panel, they made their way through the vendor area, stopping to look at items and people. Had it been a convention that he himself had paid for, and where Chris Evans wasn't involved, both he and Ryan would most likely have opted for cos-play. Instead he was wearing his favorite skinny jeans and his favorite black leather jacket. The item he did put on, and that made Ryan laugh at him, was a blue t-shirt with Captain America's shield emblazoned across the chest. 

"C'mon, we might have guaranteed seats but squeezing past everyone else will suck if we wait too long."

Sebastian looked over to where the line was already long and he knew that Ryan was right. He pulled off his leather jacket, resting it over one arm to better show off the convention wristband and the VIP lanyard around his neck. He looked down at Chris Evan's smiling face dangling from the lanyard, it was time. 

-¤-  
-¤-

"This will be insane," Jake said, peering out towards the stage and Chris could only agree.

It would be even worse for Jake the second time around. In the first movie Bucky had been a side character but it was time for him to take to the stage to promote a movie where he played one of the title characters. 

"It's not like the first time you've made a big movie," Anthony Mackie pointed out, taking a deep swig of water.

"This is different," Jake pointed out. "I mean, Brokeback Mountain went big but that was just _one_ movie."

Chris knew exactly what Jake was talking about, it was what he had been thinking about when he hesitated to accept the role of Captain America. 

"You know," Chris said, "the people that pay to come see us like this? Those are the ones who love what we do. They are the reason we do it."

Jake nodded and Chris could see his co-star relax. He wished that Scarlett would have been here with them but she was doing promotional stuff on the other side of the Atlantic, opting to stay closer to Paris for awhile. Things always went a bit smoother when she was around. 

"Right," Jake said. "At least the movie has premiered, no risk of spoilers."

Before Chris could answer, a loud cheer from the convention hall told him that the presenter had taken to the stage, ready to introduce them. 

"And up next, from what I'm sure will be one of the biggest blockbusters of the year. From Captain America: The Winter Soldier…"

The presenter paused and Chris found himself smiling as the hush fell over the crowd.

"Give it up for The Falcon, Anthony Mackie!"

Once more the screams rang out and Chris wondered if he would feel the walls trembling if he touched them. Mackie bounded to the stage with an energy Chris could only dream of. 

"And with his name in the title, welcome the Winter Soldier, Jake Gyllenhaal!"

Jake gave Chris a big grin before walked out on the stage, waving as the crowd cheered and Chris took a deep breath to calm himself down, waiting for his own name to be called. No matter how many conventions he attended, he never got used to it and the anxiety curled up inside of him. but he also knew that once he got on stage, it would be worth it. The love he got from the fans always made it worth the anxiety. 

"And now, time for the big guy himself, the star-spangled man with a plan. Captain America, Chris Evans!"

 

He was welcomed with a mixture of screams and laughter as The Star-Spangled Man With a Plan started playing over the loudspeakers and Chris pretended to glare at the presenter.

"I'll never get to live down that, will I?" Chris asked as he was handed a microphone. 

"NO!" the crowd shouted and Chris found himself bursting out laughing.

He walked over to the chair set out for him, smiling at Mackie and together with Jake they made themselves comfortable before turning to the big crowd in front of them. 

"And with that introduction done, I shall leave these three gentlemen to you all. Don't grill them too much," the presenter said, taking a deep bow before leaving the stage. 

"Well, let's do this!" Mackie said, shielding his eyes with his hand as he gazed out over the audience. "Up with those hands, who wants the first question?"

Chris loved that Mackie was always willing to take lead and he knew that only part of that was because of Mackie's social and open personality. A big reason was also to act like a buffer between Chris and the surroundings, keeping him grounded and deflecting attention when needed. 

"Well," Mackie said with a raised eyebrow. "We have to start off with you there, second row. I _love_ that Falcon costume. Falcon could need a female sidekick. What's your name?"

"Hi, I'm Sandra," she said, a blush creeping up on her cheeks. "And thank you for being here. Thanks to all three."

"You're welcome,” Chris and the others said as one.

"My question is for Jake."

Chris laughed at Mackie's surprised face and playful pout and they both looked from Sandra to Jake and then back again. 

"How did it feel getting to do a movie of this magnitude?" she asked. "And your role is bigger this time around, how did you feel figuring out that?"

"Excellent question," Jake said. "Not so easy to answer, though. The first movie was so different from where I'm at now. The character is very different from the one I played then, even if it's the same character. But really, I was so surprised to see my character in the title. Even more so since they didn't actually tell me before they released the title to the public."

Chris laughed at that, remembering his own surprise at how Marvel had handled that little piece of information and Jake's utter surprise when he had called Chris upon finding out about it.

"My friend called to congratulate me after the Comic Con reveal, and I had no idea what he was talking about. It was a bit awkward."

The audience burst out laughing and Chris thrived on the positivity in front of him, all the happy and interested faces.

"I only had a one movie contract at first, but they they signed me for more. And signing on for a multiple movie Marvel deal? It's a huge thing. I'm sure that most of us hesitated at signing on-”

"Not me," Mackie interrupted.

"-apart from Mackie, we hesitated at signing up for something that big. This isn't something you do for a few months and then move forward. But so far, I've enjoyed the process. And we still have some movies to do."

The crowd cheered and Sandra thanked him for the answer. Together they took turns selecting people from the audience for questions, and Chris found himself relaxing when none of the questions were too personal. He knew he wouldn't be able to dodge questions about his sexuality forever, but he did prefer when the questions were about Steve Rogers and not Chris Evans.

"Hi, I'm Ryan, and I have a question for Chris," a young man said, giving a dorky little wave and beside him, his friend did a slightly exaggerated facepalm. 

"Shoot," Chris said, relaxing back in his chair and offering a big smile. 

"How come Captain America doesn't buy clothes in his actual size? No, I'm sorry, I'm just joking."

Chris cracked up, clasping one hand over his chest and almost dropping the microphone he laughed so much. 

"Now that you should ask the costume department," he said. "But really, I think people keep buying clothes for him and he's too polite to complain."

Ryan laughed and his friend shook his head and while the guy wasn't looking up, Chris thought he was laughing. 

"But really. Steve Rogers is supposed to be all super soldier, and god, I worked out a lot to look the part. Apparently they feel the need to show it off. I know they keep buying clothes that are one or two sizes too small just to show off the muscles. Make him look more super, I guess. And look at that, I answered your joke question!"

"That you did," Ryan grinned. "Thanks for that, that was better than my actual question anyway."

After that the last few questions went by quickly and before he knew it, Chris was backstage with a bottle of water in his hand and he found himself more relaxed than he usually was after a con. It was a good feeling. They didn't have long before the autographs and later the VIP meet and greets and Chris focused on getting some sandwiches while they waited for the hall to clear and people to get into the autograph lines. 

"That went well," Jake said, dragging his fingers through his hair and in that moment Chris was struck by how much Jake didn't look like Bucky.

"Yeah, and we weren't even asked about our workout routines."

"And yet you managed to talk about working out," Mackie pointed out. 

"I mentioned it, it's not the same," Chris protested. "I just answered a question. That's sorta what we're supposed to do out there."

"Guys, you're up," one of the staff came and told them. "I hope you're ready to sign and smile."

"I'm gonna get a cramp," Mackie sighed.

-¤-

"Hello," Chris said for, he didn't know what time since he sat down at the table. "Oh, I remember you, Ryan, right?"

The guy in front of him grinned wide and nodded.

"Yeah, Ryan Reynolds, it's so cool to meet you. Really. I fuck- oops, I mean I really like Marvel."

"Always good to hear."

"Sebby and I really like the panel," he said, motioning to the guy beside him and Chris looked over to see stunningly blue eyes locked on him. 

"Hello there. I saw you facepalming at the question earlier, didn't approve?"

The guy remained silent, a slight blush creeping up on his cheeks and he didn't look away from Chris' face, clearly starstruck. 

"It was Sebby here that suggested the question to begin with," Ryan explained. "He just didn't think I'd dare to ask. But embarrassing your best friend? Nothing I like more."

"Asshole," the friend blurted out. "And it's Sebastian. Not Sebby. Hi."

Chris looked at the guy again, all from the dark brown hair to a jawline that wouldn't be wrong on a movie star and there was something there, something that rang a small bell in the back of Chris' mind. He looked at the guy out of the corner of his eye while signing the the stock photos they handed him, and it was just as he handed it back to Sebastian that the pieces clicked together. 

"Oh fuck, you're him," Chris blurted out. "You're Blueberry_Basha, aren't you?"

Sebastian stared at him in wide eyed shock for several long moments before he slowly nodded.


End file.
